US 4,748,431 AGranted

Electrical switches

AssigneeHarvey Hubbell Incorporated

InventorsArthur J. Saunders, Raymond D. Rochester

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Abstract

In an electric switch of the kind comprising a rectilinearly movable contact carrier (31), contacts (33) of which cooperate with fixed contacts (10A-17A,20A-25A) of a housing (19) defining spaces containing the fixed and moving contacts, which spaces are vented to atmosphere, the moving contact carrier (31) is provided with barriers or partitions (40) that cooperate with corresponding barriers or partitions (41,42) of the switch housing to subdivide the contact containing spaces in a labyrinthine manner. As the moving contact carrier (31) moves from the closed to open contact position, the respective barriers or partitions (40-42) of the contact carrier and the housing move relatively in a direction towards one another. This serves to minimize the risk of ionized gases passing between contact containing spaces of the housing (19) upon opening of the switch contacts.

Claims10

Dependent claims

An electric switch comprising:

a switch housing assembly having a plurality of pairs of fixed contacts;
at least one moving contact carrier having at least one moving contact corresponding to each of said pairs of fixed contacts, said moving contact carrier being arranged for rectilinear sliding movement within said housing along an axis, to bring said moving contacts into or out of engagement with said fixed contacts;
at least one fixed barrier provided within said housing and extending towards said moving contact carrier generally transversely to said axis of movement;
at least a second barrier provided on said moving contact carrier and extending generally transversely to said axis of movement;
the barriers serving to define at least one labyrinthine passage restricting the flow of gas between spaces of said housing each containing cooperating ones of said fixed and moving contacts;
the arrangement being such that as said moving contact carrier moves along said axis towards an open circuit condition of said contacts the respective barriers move towards one another to further restrict said labyrinthine passage;
and, the said housing assembly being provided with gas vents opening from s id spaces to the exterior of said switch housing.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.